From the ridiculous to the sublime

The sign maker was going for the word "Mangia"at Napoli Pizza in Hackensack's  Home Depot Shopping Center. Hey, but I'm sure the owner got a good price on the sign.

.

At the H Mart in Little Ferry, a box of 12 large Haitian mangoes (8.8 pounds) was $13.99. That is a good price, but two were rotten and we'll be seeking a refund.

A favorite prepared item is Korean stewed tofu, center, made with lots of red pepper.

At H Mart, fresh fish come up for air in a sea of ice.

Whole croaker ($2.99 a pound at the H Mart in Englewood) became Escoveitch Fish, a Jamaican dish based on a recipe brought to the island by Sephardic Jews.

I stopped at the H Mart in Little Ferry to pick up a few items on Thursday.

A box of 12 large Haitian mangoes for $13.99 seemed like a bargain, but the first two we tried at home were rotten.

The Korean supermarket probably stored them improperly.

Mother's Day sale

The store had a Mother's Day special on a 15-pound bag of medium-grain, California-grown Kokuho Rice (Yellow Label) for $8.99, compared to the usual price of $14.99.

I picked up a bag, but saw a woman and her son loading 10 bags into a cart.

California rice

I've been buying California-grown rice at H Mart for five or six years after reading that some growers in the South use old cotton field that were treated with arsenic to kill pests, and traces of the poison have been found in the rice.

My wife prefers to shop at the smaller H Mart in Englewood, where she picked fresh, wild-caught croaker for $2.99 a pound this week.

Jewish recipe

The fish were seasoned and fried whole, then covered with onions, garlic, pimento or allspice and sweet and hot peppers prepared in a little oil and a lot of vinegar with sugar.

This preparation is called Escoveitch Fish, which I just learned is based on a recipe brought to the island of Jamaica by Sephardic Jews (also called Spanish Jews), some of the original colonizers. 

Jamaica was under Spanish rule for more than 160 years before the British took over. 

An article about Jamaican food and Escoveitch Fish on PeterGreenberg.com says the fish is marinated in the vinegary sauce for 24 hours before cooking it, but that's not how my wife and mother-in-law do it.

Tasting and shopping notes

I sliced six or seven pieces of giant bluefin-tuna sashimi as part of my dinner last night and wasn't disappointed. Veined with fat, the raw fish just melted away in my mouth with a minimum

of chewing. Heavenly. I also had small, green obah leaves (wrap for the sashimi), seasoned fish eggs, cooked eel sushi and roll, and a triangle of seaweed-wrapped cooked rice stuffed with spicy cod roe, all from Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, where I bought the tuna Sunday ($62.99 a pound). See earlier posts.


Clementines from Spain and black figs grown in the U.S. have begun appearing in markets, but at higher prices than I remember from last year. I haven't seen clementines for less than $9.99 for a 5-pound box. My wife bought domestic clementines for half that at ShopRite in Englewood, but they are sour and full of pits. An employee of H Mart in Englewood said the price of the imported clementines will fall next month.


I bought a box of 24 black figs at H Mart in Little Ferry yesterday for $9.99. I saw then for 99 cents each at Mitsuwa Marketplace that morning as I gathered items for my sashimi and trimmings dinner. The figs I bought were ripe and sweet, and I'm storing them in the fridge. I want to try them with Manchego sheep milk's cheese and almonds for dessert one night or split open and drizzled with honey.

I have been buying California rice for two or three years now to avoid rice from the South, where it is sometimes grown on old cotton fields laced with arsenic, which was used to kill the boll weevil, a beetle, according to Consumer Reports. The problem is many bags of rice don't specify where it is grown. That's not the case at H Mart in Little Ferry, which has a large selection of California rice in all sizes, but it can be expensive, especially after a price spike last year.

Yesterday, I picked up a 20-pound bag of Kokuho yellow rice that was over a price sign of $19.99, one of the lowest I saw, and it rang up as $12.99 (it was on sale). The reference to yellow rice may have something to do with the yellow seal on the bag. The rice looked the same as other brands when we prepared it.

If you eat a lot of rice, read this

Rice Diversity. Part of the image collection of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Consumer Reports On Health newsletter changed my rice-buying habits a couple of years ago when I read that rice was being grown on former cotton fields in the South and was being contaminated by the arsenic once used to kill boll weevils.

Here is a link to another article that discusses this health issue:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-164807623.html

I had been buying Goya, Canilla and Carolina brand rice at ShopRite and after reading about the arsenic-laced fields, tried to find out where the rice was grown. But few of the labels specified the source.

I then switched to buying rice at Korean and Japanese supermarkets, where most of the rice is from California and a lot more expensive. 

I continue to buy that rice. I grew up eating rice, as did my wife and son, and we eat rice three or more times a week.

Update: I went on a diet last year, eliminated bread and pizza, and switched to organic whole-wheat pasta and brown rice, which my body seems to process better (June 3, 2012).


I still try to find rice grown in California, and can usually find it on sale at H Mart, a chain of Korean supermarkets.


Costco Wholesale began selling Della-brand organic brown rice, which is grown in the South.


I called the company to find out whether the rice is grown in old cotton fields, but never could reach anyone who knew.

However, it's unlikely the rice could get an organic designation from the USDA, if it is grown in fields with pesticide residue.